As Mostafa Ayati said, the KTAI Corridor is established as a shortcut for transitting goods from Iran's southern ports to Central Asian countries including Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
The corridor is launched by IRICA in collaboration with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), and Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) under the framework of the TIR Convention (Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets), the official said.
This new route opens up the region to trade and development and will enable freight forwarders and transport operators to benefit from significant cost and time savings when transporting goods.
Regarding the importance of Iran's route for the transit in the region, the official said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is the most economical route for the transit of goods to Central Asian countries (CIS) due to shorter access to open waters, and the development of new routes, including the KATI corridor will lead to trade development and ultimately economic growth in the region.”
Iran and Kyrgyzstan will cooperate in launching Kyrgyz-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran Corridor (KTAI Corridor) as an MoU has been signed between the two countries on 15 July 2019 after intensive technical talks in the presence of high-ranking road transport, customs, and diplomatic as well as related association's officials.
In this mutual meeting with participation the private sector, different issues were discussed and agreed between the countries including updating the latest authorized regulations for the size and weights of transit, examining tolls and informal costs in each territory, the necessity of custom cooperation, loading considerations for third country, the necessity of expanding cooperation to other road services, exchange of information on approved trailers parking, operation of KTAI Corridor, decision-making on the number and quality of future transit licenses, and removing barriers to international road transport between the two countries.
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